Day 2 - The Longest Day
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[2.1] Woods Ferry River Camp to Holton Creek River Camp (HCRC)
The river is very curvy today with a lot of visual interests
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| Day 2 Map |
Today was to be the longest day so an early start was important. We also were competing with a Boy Scout group for limited space to launch our boats. We were up early to pack and were able to beat them out. Still, it was later than I had hoped but I was hoping it would get easier to pack as the week went.
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| Savannah eating breakfast on the river. |
[2.2] Breaks
Stopping along the river is always a challenge when you have 6 boats to find parking spots. You don't want to park on rocks because it can damage your boat or someone if they fall. Sand is nice but it has to have a shoreline to get out of the boat and stretch the legs. One of the best locations that we have found to take breaks are sandbars. These happen when the river makes a sudden change in direction. The white sand becomes very enticing to visit and lounge around. Of course the kids took any opportunity they could find to go swimming and to play.
What was that?
When paddling the Suwannee there are times that you are making great progress speed wise. Things are smooth, everyone has energy, and the weather isn't a problem. The limestone is incredible to look at. It appears to have been carved out in deep pockets with oversized spoons of varying sizes: baseball, softball, basketball, and larger. With the many turns in this part of the river, your interest is piqued at what is around the corner and the amazing scenery.
The turns cause for some surprises: eddies. These swirling motions in the river cause all kinds of havoc on the boats. The sudden slowing, turning, or redirection of the boat provides many vocal noises from the riders.
Another thing that is noticed are the amount of springs in the water. The tell tale signature of the boil is a give away. Sometimes it would be a small one, other times it was a group of them. Then there were the large ones. With every pass over a spring, the my kayak would behave differently. This is probably due to the water hitting the rudder from beneath the boa, ways that I am not used to. I read somewhere that the river has over 1,000 springs in it. I can't help but be amazed at how much water is flowing into the river from the springs on a daily basis.
[2.3] What is that Smell?
We arrived to our first spring of the trip, Suwannee Springs. It is an old resort that was walled in to contain the water. I am sure they didn't tell the tourists in the sales pitch about what the water smelled like: sulfer. Ah, the smell of rotten eggs emanating from a body of water seems to chase the kids away. Angelia and Savannah were not interested in playing in this water. No, they just scurried back to the kayaks to play in the much better smelling river water.
I, on the other hand, decided to take the plunge: Nestea style. While Maria, Casey, Shawn, and Debi looked on, I plunged backwards into the 72 degree water from the sandy shoreline. Once done, I swam around looking at the features of this long abandoned resort. The water level was still high enop2ugh from the previous rainfall which caused the tanic water from the river to make exploring impossible. It was pretty neat to see some of the old flood gate control iron eyelets that would hold some kind of moving door.
After some picture taking along with some video we were off again.
Throughout our longest travel day, the weather seemed to keep the sun away. It was cool, and then we would get rain with a mix of mist and drizzle. That wasn't too bad but sometimes the wind would kick up making things more fun. This happened several times throughout the day but I preferred that to the blazing sun.
[2.4] Look up in the tree! It's a tree....
Passing by the Suwannee River Music Park, we noticed something new and totally awesome. A very new looking treehouse. I knew they had a treehouse for overnight stays but this looked like the paint was just put on. Well, turns out this was completed in the spring by the none other than DIY Network's Treehouse Guys. It is apparently completed but I have no idea how much it will cost to stay there. I did some research and found some pictures of what it looks like online and it is amazing. Looking to record the episode which is
100 year old oak tree
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| Tree house at Spirit of the Suwannee Music Park |
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| Tree house at Spirit of the Suwannee Music Park |
[2.5] Lunch Break
Lunch was at the ramp for Spirit of the Suwanee Music Park. It is the same ramp where
Canoe Outpost operates out of. This was about our half way point for the longest day of the trip.
[2.6] Break Time
[2.7] River Camp: Holton Creek River Camp
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| Night 2 lodging |
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| Where we are at, where have been, and where we are going. |
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| After a long day, these steps seemed to never end. |
After a long day, we were greeted by a bunch of stairs at the river camp. We started just bringing up what we thought we would need. That, inevitably, would lead to repeated trips to the kayak to get forgotten items. Sometime during this trip, I got smarter, and started bringing stuff back when retrieving the forgotten items. The shelters were the same but there were no other campers in them. There was a group working on the Florida Trail (it runs through this camp and backpackers are able to stay here as well) but they were tent camping. We ended up letting the kids have their own shelter.
The bathrooms were different than the previous camp. They consisted of 2 portable style bulidings with a total of 3 toilet/shower combinations. The water also had the heavy smell of sulfer as well. There was also no campground host there either.
Dinner consisted of beanie weenies. They must have been good because Maria had seconds and I believe we ate all of them. We also we able to enjoy a few burgers that Shawn had as extras. Those were great cheddar/bacon burgers.
Who is Slamming Doors in the Middle of the Night?
At night, while others slept, I dealt with my electronics. There were a lot items that I had to charge every night. While going through the Gopro stuff, I noticed that water had gotten into the case and dried out everything.
Once done, I headed for a shower. When back, Maria woke up and asked about me slamming the doors. I had no idea what she was talking about and figured she was half asleep. After some reading and fidgeting with the electrical stuff, I turned in for the night.
Next morning, I was up before the girls and started working on breakfast. Shawn and Debi were already up like usual so I joined them down by the river and talked for a bit. Shawn mentioned the slamming doors as well. I never heard them but did hear all of the nut shells falling from the trees onto the metal roofs of the shelters all night long. I had to laugh since Shawn and Maria thought the noises were the same thing.
Bug Battle
While working on the electronic stuff, I noticed a common wood roach next to my gear. I quickly killed it (hey, I am the son of a certified pest control operator). Then I noticed several more but couldn't get to them because of where they were located. Uh, oh. I walked around checking things out and hung up some clothes as well. Then I saw a green anole sleeping on a clothesline. (Some think these are lizards but us Floridians know better.) I thought that was odd, and how did he get in here? Then I noticed it: an entire section of screen was missing that we completely missed. Me being the kind husband I am, did not wake up the family and tell them. Better for them to not know and get a good nights sleep. Besides, I am sure the wood roaches was an isolated incident.
Misc Pictures
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| Which way to camp? |
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